Review: The God Dilemma by Ryan Ferrier

Title: The God Dilemma

Author: Ryan Ferrier

Artist(s): Priscilla Petraites, Marco Lesko, Moritat, Casey Silver

Series/Standalone: Rat Queens (Vol. 8)

Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Adult

Pages: 136

Publisher: Image Comics

Year Published: 2021

Format: Paperback (Library Copy)

"While Hannah ventures down a dangerous path of black magic, peace in Palisade is interrupted when a monstrous titan pulls the Rat Queens into action one last time!"

My Rating: 1.5/5

I had a lot of hope after the last one and this ending just wasn't it for me. It felt rushed and like the ending was thrown together for no reason. I'm not sure what the point of reviving the characters was when they once again changed the art style, and the way the characters reacted to situations. Overall this series had too many changes in it throughout and I wouldn't recommend, it because you'll be like me hooked from the first one and disappointed as the authors make rapid changes to the plot, art and characters.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Escape by Carolyn Jessop

Title: Escape

Author: Carolyn Jessop

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Nonfiction, Adult, Cults

Pages: 413

Publisher: Broadway Books

Year Published: 2007

Format: Audiobook

"The dramatic first-person account of the life inside an ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect, and one woman's courageous flight to freedom with her eight children.

When she was eighteen years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man thirty-two years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn's heritage: She was born and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church that had settled in small communities along the Arizona-Utah border. Over the next fifteen years, Carolyn had eight children and withstood her husband's psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of his other wives who were locked in a constant battle for supremacy.

Carolyn's every move was dictated by her husband's whims. He decided where she lived and how her children would be treated. He controlled the money she earned as a school teacher. He chose when they had sex; Carolyn could only refuse- at her peril. For in the FLDS, a wife's compliance with her husband determined how much status both she and her children held in the family. Carolyn was miserable for years and wanted out, but she knew that if she tried to leave and got caught, her children would be taken away from her. No woman in the country had ever escaped from the FLDS and managed to get her children out, too. But in 2003, Carolyn chose freedom over fear and fled her home with her eight children. She had $20 to her name.

Escape exposes a world tantamount to a prison camp, created by religious fanatics who in the name of God, deprive their followers of the right to make choices, force women to be totally subservient to men, and brainwash children in church-run schools. Against this background,  Carolyn Jessop's flight take on an extraordinary, inspiring power. Not only did she manage a daring escape from a brutal environment, she became the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS. And in 2006, her reports to the Utah attorney general on church abuses formed a crucial part of the case that led to the arrest of their notorious leader, Warren Jeffs."

My Rating: 5/5

When rating a nonfiction memoir of a story I base my rating on the narration style and the interest that the story held for me. I am not here to judge Carolyn's story or her life as I am not someone who lived it. I thought that this was a really interesting story to read about as someone who escaped the FLDS with all of her children and survived with someone so high up in the cult. For context, I am intrigued about cults, I think that the whole idea that people can be brainwashed into doing such unbelievable stuff fascinating to read about. I think the fact that this is a first account telling of the changes that the FLDS saw when Warren Jeffs began taking power, and how she managed to survive in a society where women are most often considered breeding stock. Does anyone have more suggestions about cult books, either fiction or nonfiction?

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova

Title: A Deal with the Elf King

Author: Elise Kova

Series/Standalone: Married to Magic (Book #1)

Genre: New Adult, Romance

Pages: 338

Publisher: Silver Wing Press

Year Published: 2020

Format: Audiobook

"The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death.

Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella's village to be their Human Queen.

To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she's dedicated to her life to studying herbology and becoming the town's only healer.

That is until the Elf King unexpected arrives... for her.

Everything Luella had thought she'd known about her life, and herself, was a lie. Taken to a land filled with wild magic, Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save.

The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people tug on another... but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted."

My Rating: 1.25/5

I found this book was far blander than I expected it to be. It had been recommended to me as a spicy fantasy book, and while it was a romantic fantasy, it didn't live up to the spice level that I wanted. It was fine, but not what I wanted at all. So I won't be continuing with the series.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: The Return by Rachel Harrison

Title: The Return

Author: Rachel Harrison

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Adult, Horror

Pages: 304

Publisher: Berkley

Year Published: 2020

Format: Audiobook

"An edgy and haunting debut novel about a group of friends who reunite after one of them has returned from a mysterious two-year disappearance.

Julie is missing, and the missing don't often return. But Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and she feels in her bones that her best friend is out there, and that one day she'll come back. She's right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she's been or what happened to her."

My Rating: 3.75/5

This was such a fast-paced fun horror book. I enjoyed the atmosphere the absolute most. The idea of a hotel where things are not quite right and they are going wrong repeatedly. Everything in this hotel was just so eerie. I will say that the intense scenes hit hard and just kept coming. The thrilling aspects were exciting and enjoyable. That being said I knew parts of where this story was going, just not sure how it would wrap up. I would read more from the author, especially in this genre.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Captive by Catherine Oxenberg

Title: Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter from the Terrifying Cult Nxivm

Author: Catherine Oxenberg

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Adult, Nonfiction, Cults

Pages: 320

Publisher: Simon Schuster

Year Published: 2018

Format: Audiobook

"Now updated with a new afterword, Captive is an emotional ripped-from-the-headlines expose that lays bare the secretive cult that shocked the world- for fans of Leah Remini's Troublemaker and Lawrence Wright's Going Clear.

I am a mother whose child is being abused and exploited. And I am not alone.

In 2011, former Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg joined her daughter, India, at a leadership seminar for the new organization called NXIVM. Her then twenty-year-old daughter was on the threshold of starting her own professional life and they both thought this program might help her achieve her dream. But quickly, Catherine saw a sinister side to the program that claimed to simply want to help its clients become the best version of themselves.

Catherine watched in horror as her daughter fell further and further down the rabbit hole, falling under the spell of NXIVM's hypnotic leader, Keith Raniere. Despite Catherine's best efforts, India was drawn deeper into the cult, eventually joining an elite 'sorority' of women members who were ordered to maintain a restricted diet, recruit other women as 'slaves,' and were branded with their leader's initials.

In Captive, Catherine shares every parent's worst nightmare and the lengths that a mother will go to save her child. Catherine's efforts finally led the FBI to take notice- and the journey is not yet over. A powerful depiction of a mother's love and determination and with horrifying insider details never revealed in any new story, Captive will keep you reading until the very last page."

My Rating: 3.75/5

This was a really interesting look into cults from a mother's perspective and had a lot of great sources. I was curious to see where the mother's story would take us and all the advocating she would do to help all those lives who were affected by this cult. I wasn't into the religious details of this story, but it was fine for me. I'm not judging the story just the mode the author took at points to tell it.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller

Title: The Shadows Between Us

Author: Tricia Levenseller

Series/Standalone: The Shadows Between Us Companion Series

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 326

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Year Published: 2020

Format: Audiobook

"Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power:

1) Woo the Shadow King

2) Marry him.

3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.

No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King's power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she's going to do everything within her power to get it.

But Alessandra's not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen- all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?"

My Rating: 5/5

This was the villain story that I needed. If you're looking for a sex-positive main character, a dark romance and a morally grey love interest this is the book for you. I've loved Tricia Levenseller's work in the past and this was no exception. I plan to read the companion story to this book, but I'm not sure how it could possibly hold up to this one. I can't wait to read more by the author and jump into more delicious fantasy romances that toe the line of YA and New Adult.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Title: Beautiful Redemption

Author(s): Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Series/Standalone: Caster Chronicles (Book #4)

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

Pages: 456

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Year Published: 2012

Format: Audiobook

"Is death the end... or only the beginning?

Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes-- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series."

My Rating: 2.75/5

This was a fun audiobook series to listen to. It wasn't too heavy and was the right amount of nostalgia for the 2010 reading that I would have done in high school. Is it a masterpiece, no but it was entertaining and fun? I loved a lot of the characters that we were introduced to throughout the course of the series and watching them all play their parts throughout the series was heartbreaking/heartwarming all at once. Will I ever reread this series? Probably not. Would I pick up the Link spin off? I might. Sometimes you gotta enjoy the throwbacks.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Title: Black Sun

Author: Rebecca Roanhorse

Series/Standalone: Between Earth and Sky Duology (Book #1)

Genre: Adult Fantasy

Pages: 454

Publisher: Saga Press

Year Published: 2020

Format: Audiobook

"The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilization of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.

A good will retrun

When the earth and sky converge

Under the black sun.

In the holy city of Tove the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man's mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain."

My Rating: 4/5

I really enjoyed this book. I thought that it was a great opening to a new fantasy world and that the characters were each unique and interesting.  I listened to the audiobook and was really happy with the narrators as it's a full-cast audio for each P.O.V. I found the story to be fast-paced, and the plot to be entertaining. The author did an excellent job fleshing out the world, clans and the characters. I can't wait to see where this story will go. 

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: The Guy on the Right by Kate Stewart

Title: The Guy on the Right

Author: Kate Stewart

Series/Standalone: The Underdog Trilogy (Book #1)

Genre: Romance, New Adult

Pages: 364

Publisher: Kindle

Year Published: 2019

Format: Ebook (Kindle Unlimited)

"Strike One- My mother named me Theodore after her favorite chipmunk.

Not cool, Mom.

I've spent most of my life answering to Teddy, because I couldn't make Theo work.

Except for here. College. The place where all bets are off, and I've managed to redeem myself.

There's only one problem, my new roommate, Troy is football royalty and look like he stepped off the set of an Abercrombie shoot.

Doesn't matter, I cook a mean breakfast for his panty parade, and we get along well.

And anyway, this year I got the girl. And she's perfect.

That's right, Theodore Houseman, former band geek, now marching band rock star has finally landed the girl of his dreams.

Everything is perfect.

That is, until Troy takes a good look at her.

I'm not going down without a fight. As a matter of fact, I'm not going down at all. As glorious as these days may be for my all-star roommate, Laney is my end game.

I may not know much about play strategy, but I've been the good guy my whole life. I've been listening and I know exactly what women want. Framed ina picture standing next to me, Troy may seem like Mr. Perfect, but he's underestimating the guy on the right."

My Rating: 4/5

This was such a fun romance to read. I'm looking forward to reading alot from the Kindle Unlimited library this month and just having fun with my reading. This was supposed to be a good intro to new adult, and smut. But it was more romantic than I was anticipating. It was fun to see a normal guy getting the girl, but also to see them deal with things together as friends before becoming more. The conflict int his book was just a bit much for me, but I get what the author was doing. My only big complaint was that at times this book felt like it was based in 2015 not 2019 and I know that might not matter to some people,but it did take me out of the story here and there. I might continue this series, depending how the rest of my reading this month goes.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardguo

Title: Ruin and Rising

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Series/Standalone: The Shadow and Bone Trilogy

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 417

Publisher: 2017

Year Published: Square Fish

Format: Paperback Copy

First Line: "The monster's name was Izumrud, the great worm, and there were those who claimed he had made the tunnels that ran beneath Ravka." 

"The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a tweaked Alina must submit the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction- and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she's fighting for."

My Rating: 4/5

This happens a lot for me in a series. The final book just isn't what I expected and while I liked this one, and thought that it made some really great plot choices, the final conflict resolution just wasn't what I wanted from the series. The characters were dynamic and interesting. I am so excited to continue reading Leigh Bardugo's backlist and I'm glad I started with this series. It was such a fun ride, and a great YA read without being too much of a throwback.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny